Firemen fight the flames at Saqi Bar on Sunday. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

A fire broke out on the first floor of a Lenin Sarani watering hole, Saqi Bar, on Sunday afternoon but fire-fighters acted swiftly to prevent it from spreading.

Three fire tenders took around 45 minutes to douse the flames that enveloped the bar, one of the oldest in the city and popular for its live music.

Police said the fire did not cause much damage to the bar because it was spotted early.

“Apparently, a short circuit caused the blaze. We are investigating whether combustible materials were stored in the building,” an investigating officer from Bowbazar police station said.

The origin of the fire was the office of the bar, which had opened for the day when owners of shops in the vicinity saw smoke billowing from the first floor and alerted the management. “It was around 3.10pm and we became panicky on seeing smoke. We called up the police and the fire-tenders arrived within half an hour,” said Mohammad Aslam, a hawker.

Some female singers were on the ground floor of the address when the fire was noticed. Firemen evacuated a couple of families who stay on the second floor of the same building.

Members of some families staying in the adjacent properties fled their homes, fearing the flames would spread. “I packed my stuff into two bags and fled. There was chaos all around as everybody was running. Thank god, it was Sunday… It would have been far worse had it been a weekday,” another hawker said.

The investigating officer said the focus of the probe would be on fire safety measures in the building. “We will find out whether the bar authorities had adhered to basic norms.”